


A Prank is Born

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Over the Rainbow [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Halloween, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-27
Updated: 2013-06-27
Packaged: 2017-12-16 08:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Monster Mash,” Atlanta suddenly exclaimed, her green-grey eyes glowing a little in the dim lighting of the room. “That can be the theme of this prank. Monster Mash. I know there’s a song about it.” </p>
<p>“Theme?” Peter asked, looking lost.</p>
<p>“Halloween!” Sirius shouted, slapping Peter on the back. </p>
<p>Remus frowned for a moment, not noticing Peter and Sirius. “I think you’re right.”</p>
<p>“What’s Monster Mash about?” James asked. “Not a monster bashing things. Or mashing.”</p>
<p>Sirius had vision of a three headed dog mashing potatoes in a large bowl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Prank is Born

**Disclaimer: “Monster Mash” was written by Bobby Pickette, Leonard L Capizzi. I did not write it, nor will I claim I did. I did write it in an accent. As always, If you know it, I don’t own it.**

* * *

In the past two days, Sirius spent any free moment in the Chamber of Mischief (a play on the Chamber of Secrets the Slytherins were always whispering about as a bedtime story), sorting through the various pranking items. Some objects had spells on them to do wacky things, like quack like a duck or turn the person holding the item into a ferret. 

There was an odd array of ferret related joke items for some reason. 

“So, what are we going to do with all this stuff?” James asked, looking around the room, the glee of a small child on his face. 

“No idea. But our first prank using this stuff must be stellar,” Sirius said, studying an odd red rubber circle thing. “What is this?”

“Whoopee cushion,” Remus said without even looking over at Sirius. “There are crates full of dishes in here. They look like the dishes in the Great Hall.”

Sirius turned around, glancing at the crate Remus was looking through. It was filled with gold dishes that looked identical to the ones they’d eaten dinner off of an hour ago. 

“Why are those even in here?” James asked. “You can’t prank with dishes.”

“There’s a crate full of silverware and goblets,” Peter offered, yanking out another crate out from a closet opposite the shelf of pranking materials. “I don’t think they’ve been opened in eons.”

Peter blew the dust off the crate, studying it. 

“Oh!” Remus cried, sounded excited.

“What is a whoopee cushion?” Sirius asked James. 

James shrugged.

“Ah,” Remus breathed, reading over something he found in the box of dishes. “That’s rather clever.”

“What?” James asked as Sirius threw the whoopee cushion back on the shelf. 

“The dishes are charmed to dance to music,” Remus went on. “ _Gambill Tandi.”_

“Sounds Italian,” James offered, picking up one of the plates and flipping it over in his hands. 

“It’s not. It’s bastardized French. _Gambiller_ means ‘to dance’ in French. The end might be Latin. The wand movement is very complicated.”

“These sing,” Peter said from the other side of the room. He was holding an old sheet of parchment. “ _Succiabo_.” 

Peter handed the parchment to Sirius who felt his eyes glaze over at the complicated wand movements to cast the spell for the entire crate of silverware and goblets. 

“You know…” Remus trailed off, frowning a bit. He kept that mischievous glint in his eyes, so Sirius knew he hadn’t given up on his idea, just thought it would get them in trouble and did not go with his Prefect image. So he was wobbling on telling them for fear they’d agree. 

Sirius grinned. 

“What? Tell us, tell us, tell us,” Sirius begged, bringing out his puppy dog eyes. “Please.”

Remus huffed, but looked back at the paper. “I think I could master the spell to at least get the dishes to dance.”

James snatched the parchment from Sirius. “I can do this. I’ll do the singing.”

“What songs do you know?” Remus asked, eyeing James with mistrust.

“Er—”

“James doesn’t know any songs except those we sing as kids,” Peter offered helpfully. “Right?”

Remus stood up, brushing the dust off his robes. He crossed the room to where James stood with the parchment. He read it three times then handed it back to James.

“We could do the school song,” Remus said. “Everyone knows it has no set tune.”

“Or, you could just ask me what you ought to do.”

The four boys turned to find Atlanta in the doorway, smiling. She pushed herself off of the doorway and glided across the stone floor towards the group of boys. 

“I am a walking song library,” she offered, smiling. “Granted, there’s not a TON of popular music right now that’s good…well, that I think is good…the sixties were pretty good. Popular wizarding standards all suck, no offense, but till the Weird Sisters come around, wizard music will be sorely lacking.”

James looked uncomfortable and mouthed “Weird Sisters” at Sirius who shrugged. 

 “So, Muggle music. The Muggleborns will appreciate it.”

She took the parchment from Remus, who had extended the one with the song spell on it. She looked impressed as she looked through it. She cocked her head to the side for a moment. 

“Wow, this is complicated. I wonder who wrote this. Have you ever heard it before?”

She was looking at Remus, the well known bookworm and reader of books. 

“No. I know there are charms to make objects move and sing, but this is a whole new level of those charms,” Remus said, his eyes glittering. “Someone brilliant invented those spells. Why they were hidden away in here is…a mystery.” 

Atlanta nodded. She placed a hand on her hip and got an unfocused look in her eyes. Remus put on Think Face. Sirius and James, after gagging, turned and began to sort through the shelves again. 

“Monster Mash,” Atlanta suddenly exclaimed, her green-grey eyes glowing a little in the dim lighting of the room. “That can be the theme of this prank. Monster Mash. I know there’s a song about it.” 

“Theme?” Peter asked, looking lost.

“Halloween!” Sirius shouted, slapping Peter on the back. 

Remus frowned for a moment, not noticing Peter and Sirius. “I think you’re right.”

“What’s Monster Mash about?” James asked. “Not a monster bashing things. Or mashing.”

Sirius had vision of a three headed dog mashing potatoes in a large bowl. 

“Frankinstien,” Remus and Atlanta said together.

“Who?” James, Sirius and Peter asked together.

“He’s a monster. It’s not important. Do you think you could get the music down for it?” Remus asked, turning towards Atlanta. 

Atlanta frowned. “I can hum it, but I can’t sing too well. I was never put into music lessons like my sister and brother. I love music, though.”

Remus hummed, putting on Think Face. He looked a bit sad as he looked at Atlanta, while still wearing Think Face. It was Sad Think Face. 

“It’d be funnier if there was a guy with a funny accent singing,” Atlanta suggested. 

“I’ll do it!” Sirius cried, waving his arms over his head. This caused both Atlanta and Remus to startled. They’d gone off to their own Think World, hence the need to wave his arms. “Just teach me the words.”

Atlanta nodded. “Okay. Oh! You can also make fake ghosts. Here.”

Shoving the paper into her pocket, she rushed to the bookshelves and pushed them apart and vanished.

“Did you know they did that?” James asked Sirius.

“Uh, no,” Sirius said, going over to where Atlanta vanished. Before he could head back and investigate, Atlanta popped out, holding several globes that has silvery mist in them. “What are those?”

“Ghost globes,” she replied. “Haven’t you seen these before? You tell the globe what you want the ghost to look like, or draw it a picture, and for at least thirty minutes, there’ll be a ghost or a faint image of what you want.”

“Interesting,” Sirius said. 

“Remus and I will write the lyrics down to the song. You guys all get on thinking up what kind of monsters you want mashing around the Great Hall on Halloween,” Atlanta said. 

James took the globes from Atlanta and grinned at her. “Where have you been our whole lives?”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “In the future, dumbo.”

Atlanta grabbed Remus and hooked her arm with him, towing him out of the room. Feeling slightly put out Atlanta had dragged Remus off, Sirius took one of the globes from James and studied it. He felt like he ought to have known about these things before tonight. 

“I’ve seen those before,” Peter whispered, staring at the globe in Sirius’s hand. “They were invented in the forties during the war the Muggles had. They were used to scare Muggles out of bombed buildings.”

“Interesting. Why are they in here?”

“Why is any of this stuff in here? Atlanta called it a prank room, but it seems to be a room filled with items that have either been banned or charmed in an illegal manner,” James said. 

“The dishes aren’t charmed. You have to perform the spell,” Sirius pointed out. “If it was illegal, why not throw the stuff out?”

“Some of it is Muggle stuff,” James offered. “Like this thing.”

He picked up the whoopee cushion, flapping it around. “Seriously, what does it do? It’s a flabby piece of rubber.”

Sirius and Peter exchanged looks and shrugged. James threw the thing on the ground. He pulled out the map and suggested they head back to the tower. While Peter and James plotted the best way to get back, Sirius picked up the whoopee cushion. He flipped it between his hands for a moment before realizing it had faint writing on it. In better light, he might be able to read it. He tucked it into his pocket, slipping the ghost globe in as well. 

* * *

Giddy.

That was how Sirius felt when he finished with classes on Halloween. The Marauders had pulled epic Halloween pranks the past five years, but this year— this year was more epic than any of the past pranks. 

They’d spent almost all night setting it up, working with the House Elves to switch out the entire dining set for the one they’d found in the Prank Room. (They had found out the two spells ONLY worked on the dishes found the Chamber of Mischief. Nothing else.) Remus had devised a way to set off the ghost globes so none of them would have to activate them. Sirius did not really understand what he’d done, but it involved one of the enchanted spoons. Sirius had sung the song “Monster Mash” a billion times it seemed to the dishes, silverware and goblets under the spell till Atlanta and Remus were happy.  

James sat down next to Sirius. They exchanged grins as the room began to fill with people. 

“Where’s Moony?” Sirius asked, looking around. “He has to be here to cast the spell to get the dancing going.”

“He’s coming, don’t worry,” James said out of the corner of his mouth. 

Sirius shifted a bit on the bench. The Halloween Feast was not like normal dinner, in that everyone had to be seated before it began. Sirius watched as students streamed in, keeping his eyes out for Moony and Atlanta. 

Atlanta showed up before Remus. She walked in with his little brother, their arms hooked and heads tilted together. She laughed at something Regulus said. They sat down so they were facing the Gryffindor table, as they always did. Atlanta unhooked her arm from Regulus, patting him on the shoulder. Regulus gave her a strange look, but scooted closer to her till they were pressed together on the bench. He spoke into her ear, which caused Atlanta to turn pink. 

“That was close,” Remus breathed, sitting down across from Sirius. He was a little pink and out of breath. 

“What took you so long?” Sirius asked.

“I had to go to the tower and dump my stuff,” Remus replied. “Okay, Addy here?”

“Huh?”

“Atlanta Dorothy,” Remus said. “Addy.”

Sirius frowned, wondering why Remus was calling her that, but nodded. He liked Addy better than Lanta. 

Dumbledore stood up and welcomed them all to the Halloween feast. He was about to tell them to enjoy when Sirius saw Atlanta tap her hair and turned it blue. Sirius turned to Remus, who wasn’t even looking at Atlanta for the signal. Sirius stomped on Remus’s foot, who fell forward a bit. 

Before Dumbledore could finish his speech and signal for the House Elves to send the food down, all the plates on the table began to float in the air. The silverware stood up as well, though it wasn’t floating. Dumbledore fell silent, seemingly astounded. Slughorn looked as if he’d seen a ghost. The rest of the professors all stared at the Gryffindor table. Sirius tried to look surprised. 

Remus flicked his wand under the table. Sirius felt a jet of magic shoot out and a spoon at the end of the table went flying. Atlanta must have done the spell to start the music, as the music started playing as more spoons flew off the table and hit the globes that had been placed around the room. 

The monsters the boys had come up with were bizarre. Sirius’s was a giant furry dog that was green and covered in slime. Peter had come up with a huge, green human thing with a square head and bolts in the neck. James’ was red with wild fire hair and claws for feet. Remus’ monster was a boring mummy. 

“ _I vas vorking in the lab, late one night,”_ the green monster began in the weird German accent Sirius had chosen to use _. “Vhen my eyes beheld an eerie sight, vor my monster vrom his slab, began to rise!_ ”

The plates all rose higher in the air, spinning around. Students gasped. A few first years screamed. Sirius was sure McGonagall sighed deeply and buried her face in her hands for a second, then reverted to normal. 

“ _And suddenly to my surprise, he did the mash, he did thee monster mash!_ ”

The plates spun, the silverware all began to tap dance with the goblets. The ghost monsters all stuck their arms forward and stomped around.

“ _Thee monster mash, it vas a graveyard smash, he did thee mash, it caught on in a vlash, he did thee mash, he did thee monster mash!_ ”

The plates, silverware, and goblets all joined in for the chorus. Sirius grinned, staring at his own plate spun in circles above his head and his silverware danced with one another while his own goblet bounced around on the table. 

“ _Vrom my laboratory in thee castle east, to the master bedroom vhere thee vampires feast!_ ”

There was a tiny explosion and a ghost like vampire rose out of the center of the Great Hall. Several more students screamed. The Hufflepuffs near the ghost vampire inched away, while the Ravenclaws looked on in confusion. 

“ _Thee ghouls all came vrom their humble abodes to get a hit vrom my electrodes!_ ” sung Peter’s ghost, who had somehow gotten some sort of object that let bright, white light out between the two objects he held.

“ _They did thee mash, they did thee monster mash,”_ the entire dining room sung out around them. _“They did thee monster mash, it vas a graveyard smash! They did thee mash, it caught on in a vlash. They did thee mash, thee monster mash. They did the mash!_ ” 

Sirius peeked around the room. Most of the students looked highly amused rather than freaked out as they had when it’d begun.  

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the dishes fell back to the table, the silverware went still and the goblets all fell over. The ghost monsters were still looming, but they’d stopped singing and were simply hanging in the air, having used up all their directions. 

“Wonderful!” Dumbledore praised, clapping his hands and laughing. 

Slowly the rest of the students began laughing again and clapped as well. Sirius exchanged grins with James, then turned to Remus, who looked worn out and nervous for some reason. Peter looked hungry. 

“Well, if that’s all the excitement for tonight, let us begin the feast!” Dumbledore said, clapping his hands again. The dancing dishes all vanished, replaced with the usual feast dishes.

Food appeared. 

“That was you guys, right?”

“Way to go! That was brilliant!”

“How did you get the dishes to dance and sing like that?”

“Where did you get those ghosts from?”

The questions shot out from all directions. The Marauders did as they usually did and played dumb. Sirius looked across the Great Hall towards the Slytherin table. Most of the snakes all looked weary of eating off dishes that looked like the dancing dishes. Quite a few looked like they expected the dishes to do something else other than dance.  Atlanta and Regulus were chatting, Regulus rolling his eyes in a dramatic fashion. He looked up suddenly and caught his brother’s eye. Sirius stilled, waiting for his brother to react first. Regulus quirked on eyebrow at Sirius then extended his head a bit. 

Sirius smiled like an idiot. 

Sirius was still flying high about the prank by the time the feast was over. He got up and followed the rest of the Gryffindors to the tower, but was stopped short by McGonagall. 

“So, charmed dishes?”

“Excuse me?” Sirius asked, putting on his charming, confused, pureblood mask. 

She raised one eyebrow. “Detention. Tomorrow. Seven. You’ll join the House Elves in the kitchens. Bring along all your friends. And Miss Black. I’d suggest you bring your brother as well, except he seemed too surprised to be faking it.” 

Sirius didn’t feel the prank was worthy of a detention. It hadn’t harmed anyone at all. He hoped Atlanta wasn’t too mad about getting detention. McGonagall didn’t miss anything. 


End file.
